Major Al-Qaeda operative killed in US missile strike: official

ISLAMABAD (AFP) – A major Al-Qaeda operative of Arab origin was among six militants killed overnight in a suspected US missile strike in northwest Pakistan, a senior security official told AFP Wednesday. Security sources identified the militant as Abdullah Azam al-Saudi, a senior member in Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network. "He was a senior commander of Al-Qaeda and was involved in recruiting and training of fighters," the senior official said. According to US intelligence shared with Pakistan, al-Saudi was the main link between Al-Qaeda's senior command and Taliban networks in the Pakistani border region, an Islamabad-based senior security official said. "He was the man coordinating between Al-Qaeda and Taliban commanders on this side of the border, and also involved in recruiting and training fighters," the official told AFP. He is the second high-profile Al-Qaeda operative killed in recent US missile strikes in Pakistan's rugged tribal region bordering Afghanistan. Egyptian Al-Qaeda operative Abu Jihad al-Masri, described by the US as Al-Qaeda's propaganda chief, was killed in a missi le strike in

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Pakistan in the early hours of November 1. He was among several rebels killed when two missiles fired by a suspected US spy drone hit a truck in the North Waziristan tribal region bordering Afghanistan, security officials said.